May 30, 2008

Q+A for Several Assignments

We have pioneers in this class – people who are working fast and ahead. With the busy summers many of you have planned, this is understandable. As I deal with some of their questions below, you shouldn’t feel guilty if your priorities have been something else – but notice the questions. In many cases, they point to little problems in the assignments or clarifications that need to be made.

Access Enabler question:

Our group needs clarification … Do we have to do the actual lesson/handouts that we discuss as being our solution, or just describe what we would do?

Answer: I apologize that the assignment is quite unclear on this point. What I would like is a “middle way”: a). thoroughly describe your solution; and b). develop just enough of the solution package (or lesson, or tool, or resource) to give us a clear idea and a small sample. This might be a single piece of the package, or a list of lesson plan steps, or an excerpt. You may decide it’s easiest and most appropriate to provide the entire resource, especially if it’s compact. In the case of lesson or unit planning, I do not expect to see everything down to the last word of the handout or test for students. If you are uncertain how much to hand in, ask me.

I chose to do this assignment on my own. Since two parts of the Rubric under “reflection” deal with group participation and process, what should I do to earn these 2 points?

Answer: I’m sorry I missed this aspect of the assignment. Simply mark this section “NA.” You will more than make up for the points by doing the assignment alone!

And finally for today, a more philosophical, general question:

On MARC records: How often are we actually going to do anything with them except download them from our vendor and import them into our circulation system?

Answer: Hardly ever, if ever. But you may make small edits on a frequent basis; most often, your software will make this very easy.

You will find a lot of variation in the SLMSs you talk to – many think MARC knowledge is crucial, while others are wary of MARC records and reluctant to tamper with them. I don’t want you to be afraid of MARC – you should feel confident about editing if necessary. And you will always have the text and other authorities to consult. The goal for now is to empower you for when you need this skill in the future. We all need to “know our way around,” and some of you will be more interested in this technical stuff than others. That’s where we’re going in this class.